Wall Street Twiddling Thumbs As Market Rallies

Despite the impressive start to the year for the stock market, nothing much exciting has actually happened for the world of investment banking, as The Wall Street Journal depicted in a nice info-graphic today.

Bloomberg News

Here’s some more data on just how slow it feels on Wall Street, according to Dealogic, a data firm.

Total investment banking fees as of Monday are down 31% compared with the same period a year ago. The $4.03 billion brought in as of March 5 is the smallest amount Wall Street has earned by that date since the dismal start to 2009, when just $2.53 billion was made. The market was on its way to rock bottom at this point three years ago.

The number of initial public offerings in the U.S. that have priced has dropped to 23 from 27 last year. Again, with just $2.23 billion having been raised, it is the smallest amount since 2009 when only one IPO launched and raised $828 million. (It was Mead Johnson Nutrition Co., the baby formula company Bristol-Myers spun out and was actually a successful launch, pricing at the top of expectations and rising 10%.)

In terms of mergers and acquisitions, there have actually been more U.S. deals announced–2,069–than in the same period of any of the previous five years. But by cumulative value, $113.9 billion, it is down 37% from last year and the lowest since 2008, showing big deals remain few and far between.

To be sure, as the market has rallied, sentiment hasn’t exactly been through the roof and many have been waiting for a drop. That’s kept companies on the sidelines, but talking more and more. Many expect a pickup in activity to come sooner rather than later.

And this week might even be showing some fresh signs. Monday night alone five companies unveiled stock offerings in an attempt to raise capital. And yesterday as well, U.S. companies floated up to $20 billion in debt, the biggest single day for bond sales this year.

Add a Comment

Thanks for reading Deal Journal. We would like to direct you to MoneyBeat, the Wall Street Journal’s brand new global blog. MoneyBeat unites MarketBeat, The Source, Overheard and all the Deal Journal blogs, bringing together all the market, M&A, IPO and hedge-fund news from those blogs into a 24-hour hub for finance news. Check it out and let us know what you think at moneyblog@wsj.com.

About Deal Journal

Deal Journal is an up-to-the-minute take on the deals and deal makers that shape the landscape of Wall Street, including mergers and acquisitions, capital-raising, private equity and bankruptcy. In short, wherever money changes hands. Deal Journal is updated throughout each trading day with exclusive commentary, analysis, data, news flashes and profiles. The Wall Street Journal’s David Benoit is the lead writer, with contributions from other Journal reporters and editors. Send news items, comments and questions to deals@wsj.com.